April 2nd 2025,
Canadian History was our last discussion, the sources were about the Meech Lake Accord. When I handed in my write up I apologized to my professor as I still found it impossible to do a one page summary, mine tend to be at least 2. One of the sources was over 70 pages long, I didn’t know how to keep the summary short enough to fit within a single page alongside summaries of the other sources. Yes, all sources read have to be summarized to fit one page together. Hope that makes sense. I am sure you can tell from the way that I write that keeping my assignments short is not something I am good at, I am a certified yapper.
For French Revolution we took a break from Haiti to learn about Napoleon as he was a problem for Haiti. So first we began with the “Bloodless Coup” of the 18th Brumaire which kickstarts the Napoleonic era. Sieyès is the mastermind behind the coup to take over the Directory, and he needed Napoleon to be his sword as he had many military victories in Italy. The coup creates a 3-consul executive (like Ancient Rome) before Napoleon takes over as first consul, to consul for life, to Emperor. he was appealing in that he promised to complete the revolution and preserve the legacies of the liberal phase. Napoleon crowns himself Emperor of the French, which my professor called paradoxical as it combines the old title with a new relationship towards subjects.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica in 1769, a year after France took the island over as it was originally Italian. In his youth Napoleon resented France as a colonial power and dreamed of Corsican independence. But then he joined the military and was put on the up and up. She then showed us David’s painting “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” because it demonstrates “Napoleonic self-image” due to the victories taken in the Italian campaign, the painting is also an example of political myth-making (cult of personality).When Napoleon crowns himself an Josephine, he does so in front of the pope. He also claims he does not want to be descended from anyone, creating his own genealogy from “classical, Merovingian dynasty,” Charlemagne, and revolutionary symbols.
Napoleon was also portrayed as an Enlightened explorer. He went to Egypt as an Enlightenment project and “civilizing mission.” The Rosetta Stone was also found too. During his visit Napoleon visited plague victims in Jaffa, which showed his “fearlessness” and commitment to science. This glosses over the French fleet losses and Napoleon’s decision to abandon his troops to rush home for the coup.
Next was the Civil code which had equality before the law, freedom of speech, and religious tolerance. While it did protect rights, there were paradoxes: the government controlled the press but also said the free press was a good ally? Which is confusing. The code also replaced feudal regimes with a common civil law: civil equality before the law, “rule of law.” This was so influential that it is still the basis of many legal system to this day. It also established a national system of universal, secular education (for males).
Napoleon was also a pragmatist because he was willing to compromise revolutionary principles as a means to an end. He also gave nonpartisan pardons to most royalists and Jacobins as a way to co-opt potential enemies. Peace was made with Rome with the Concordat treaty which restores freedom of worship and state funding, this was all under the condition that the revolutionary lad settlement would remain untouched. Negotiations with England happened which resulted din a truce, aka the Peace of Amiens, which collapses in a year but did secure Napoleon’s reputation as a diplomat when it was still active. This is all well and good but Napoleon did violate revolutionary principles, his most notorious offence being his attempt to re-enslave Haiti.
We ended the lecture by looking at Napoleon’s letter to Toussaint, which instructed him to support the French expedition to “restore order.” The letter seemed nice so Toussaint trusted him, but in 1802 he was betrayed as France repeals the abolition of slavery throughout the empire and re-opens the slave trade. There was also Napoleon’s secret instruction that dictated the capture of Toussaint and the intent to restore slavery in Haiti. You see, if Napoleon didn’t try to bring back slavery I probably would not have as negative a view of him as I do. He is a very interesting figure but this part of his legacy is a huge stain that cannot be ignored. It’s just so so bad, especially the treatment of Toussaint when he is kidnapped, the man was neglected to death, but this will be detailed more in the next lecture.
There is nothing to say about Political Science as it was a preparation lecture to help us with the final. He gave us all the topics that would be covered and what specifically to study. The final is kind of brutal in that we had to write one short essay and three long essays. He also did not allow us to choose which essay topics to focus on and whichever was provided on the final would be a surprise, so we had to study A LOT. Which should not be a surprise for university but this class was a doozy.
By the way, my second midterm for this Polisci class? I got 94%
